When considering the political lean of the state they represent, Manchin is literally the most valuable Democrat in the Senate. Even at his worst, he is *far* more liberal than even a generic WV Republican would be, to say nothing of the extreme Trump kind that would feel confident winning there. (Also, when the left-wing Berniecrat Swearingen who unsuccessfully challenged Manchin ran against Moore Capito in 2020, she lost by more than 40 points, so hoping someone like her wins a primary challenge ain't a great solution.)
And it's not a 4-D chess thing. Primarying Manchin, or kicking him out of the caucus, or whatever "stop supporting him" means would just result in a Republican voting for the
exact same kinds of anti-trans amendments except juiced with far more vicious rhetoric, followed up by more explicitly anti-trans bills they would
author, alongside anti-healthcare, labor, voting rights, and myriad other critical votes
that Manchin is more reliable on. Tossing Manchin would harm trans rights overall, not help. West Virginia isn't going to be electing a vocally pro-trans senator any time soon; in that context Manchin is the best we can realistically expect there, even if he's still bad. The solution, as ever, is to fight to elect the most progressive senator that can be elected in a given state in as many states as possible so that we don't have to rely on a transphobe's vote to get anything done.
